


How to Weld Broken Swords Outside the Forge

by titular_Archon



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Earth C (Homestuck), Gen, Identity Issues, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Post-Sburb (Homestuck), Post-Sburb/Sgrub
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21615070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titular_Archon/pseuds/titular_Archon
Summary: Dave Strider, or Davesprite as he's been denoted for the last three years, wants to celebrate winning the game with his friends. He wants to take the lessons he's learned to heart and move forward with his existence. As always, Paradox Space couldn't give two shits about what he wants.A fully revived Davesprite awakes with his companions on Earth C, only to realize that Doom has finally caught up to him.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	How to Weld Broken Swords Outside the Forge

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I wrote this like a year ago and never got around to posting it. I only have a few chapters done, but I might pick it up again if the inspiration hits. I'm not as fully invested in the comic or its several offshoots as I used to be, so it's unlikely I'll incorporate any content that came after the actual end of the comic. However, these characters always find ways to crawl back into my brain, so who knows. 
> 
> WARNING: I never really liked a lot of the end canon ships or the popular ships. Shipping isn't really the focus of the story currently, but if I do go off the rails and take full liberty with relationships, don't be surprised by major canon contradiction. This may or may not include ships you find problematic. Again, romance focus is off the table currently, just don't expect your favorite stuff if I give romance a test run.

The world came into focus in jarring waves, as it does when you try to wake up but keep falling back into unconsciousness after a bad night’s sleep. The occupants of the recently inhabited Earth C seemed to spring into full consciousness at once, hyper aware of the space they were in and their companions, new and old. Almost all Sburb/Sgrub players alive when John opened that door looked around at each other in a stupor, just standing in an empty field surrounded by forest. There was a moment of silence, as each reflected on all that had happened and how each had made it to this end. Then there was an explosion of emotion from most present. Sighs of relief to screams of joy were shared all around, all happy to simply be alive and with their friends, despite the few missing. Well, most were celebrating. One in particular didn’t seem to share in any of the festivities, if any were paying attention. 

Dave Strider happened to be that one. Well, his name used to be Dave Strider. For a long time, it was Davesprite. Then for about a day he was Davepetasprite^2. Now he was just Dave again, or at least someone who looked identical to Dave Strider, who he could see across the field from him. That Dave was sporting his god tier pjs and embracing his three fellow human friends. Friends he’s not sure how to interact with currently. 

Putting that aside for a moment, he looked to his right and saw Nepeta, the troll girl he was briefly fused with. She was currently pouncing into the arms of a revived Equius, who was smiling almost as hard as he was sweating. He was wearing a pair of pointy shades, and Dave remembers that those are in some way an alternate version of his Bro, but he’s not sure how. 

In another impressive feat of mental gymnastics, he put aside the “Bro” concept for later and took a moment to simply watch and enjoy Nepeta being happy. He knows, more than anyone could, how important Equius is to her and is glad to see them properly reunited. Being fused with Nepeta had been enlightening, to say the least. To be a completely realized, happier person had felt better than anything had in years. Even if it was a bit by force, he got to completely open himself up to another person without the need for complex emotional explanations. They simply understood everything about each other within a few minutes. It also felt great to have the full, sprite-given picture of what it meant to be himself, or themself, in the moment. He was certain of his purpose and had all his potential as a person in view. It was amazing. But, also, pretty much gone. He still recalled factual knowledge, like things he learned about himself and Nepeta. But all the emotional stability and certainty that came with the knowledge seemed to fly out the window upon waking here. 

Despite the many emotions and memories that seemed to be rushing at him at once, he wasn’t feeling too overwhelmed. He had learned from his experience with Nepeta, and from his less pleasant experiences on the ship, that freaking out and running away from his problems and friends would make things worse. Not that he wasn’t pretty bummed from the lack of those fusion feelings, as well as the return of his depression that he had become fully aware of. But he knew he was going to deal with all his shit in time, and was in no rush to ruin the good mood he and his friends were currently in. It would be awkward and probably painful, but he was going to sort everything out eventually. He knew he had it in him, somewhere, but now was not time or place. 

But of course, Paradox Space had a way of fucking him over at every turn. 

He had taken one step forward, planning to join Nepeta and Equius in their merriment, when he felt it. It had been a long time, but he had felt it before. It was only for a few seconds, when he had first time traveled out of his Doomed timeline and into the alpha. The feeling of certainty, without a doubt, he was going to die soon. It was a quiet, small feeling at the back of his mind when he first came over. It had disappeared when he entered his sprite body. However, now the feeling hit him like a train, as if three years of being denied had made it grow out of proportion. Doom had been forced to wait, and was finally here for him. 

He felt angry, sad, and panicked all at once. Of course, he should have seen this coming, he thought. The only reason he became a sprite was because he was basically a walking corpse, and his original purpose was to make sure his friends lived through the game. He wasn’t an alpha player that had been revived like Nepeta or Equius. He wasn’t even an alpha replacement like John and Roxy. He had always been the Doomed extra living on borrowed Time. 

He felt trapped, and the clock was ticking. From first hand experiments with time travel he knew that most doomed selves died within a few minutes, but if they were smart and careful they could live up to an hour before the inevitable caught up. He wasn’t in combat, and there was no conveniently placed lava pits or metal work surrounding him like on LOHaC. But still, this feeling was different. If something didn’t kill him in the next few minutes, he was pretty certain his heart would just stop. It was over. 

Dave was conflicted on what to do next. He felt he should tell someone. Maybe to get help, or just say bye? But an illogical need not to ruin everything with his impending death seemed to compete with his better sense. He started to step slowly toward the forest, with a half-baked image in his head of dying behind some bushes where none of his companions would notice, as if him dying was akin to taking a piss. Unsightly, and not that important. The image of dying alone also set in, and he jerked forward in response, taking a few steps toward his friends. Finally, he remained perfectly still, the feeling of Doom persisting as no proper solution would come to his mind. 

“Dave, are mew okay?” a voice called to him. 

Nepeta’s large yellow eyes, with hints of olive in her pupils, stared at him in concern. She was almost directly in front of him, and he hadn’t even noticed her until she said something. Her familiarity had anchored him back to reality, and he exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. The Doom feeling hadn’t gone away, but if he was talking, he could almost ignore it. 

“Don’t freak out, but, uh,” Dave said in a calm voice, surprising himself, “I’m pretty sure I’m about to drop dead.” He didn’t really know what else to say on the matter. “So yeah, that’s happening… so, uh, how are you doing?” he finished with a panic induced nonchalance. 

Nepeta stared at him blankly for a moment, realization of his condition dawning briefly before she sprung up in a vibrant display of panic. 

“Dave is dying, help, help, quick!” Nepeta loudly addressed the rest of the group. “Jane, everyone, quick!”

Almost immediately everyone stopped their brief conversations and came to investigate the issue. Most didn’t seem to know there was a second Dave among them, too engrossed in their relief to notice. But now they all gathered in a semi-circle staring at him, some confused about why or how he even existed. Dave was extremely uncomfortable with the sudden attention, pretty sure his initial plan to die quietly in the woods was now out the window. Luckily Nepeta was there to frantically explain his situation for him, as he simply nodded along and mumbled some confirmations. 

Almost immediately the crowd was in an uproar, trying to talk over each other to ask more questions or just freak out. 

“Quiet, let me think!” Alpha Rose screamed at them and then took a second to collect herself. The Rose that had been Jasprosespite was also there in the back but remained quiet. She wasn’t Doomed because her timeline was also technically an alpha, and awoke somewhat reeling at still being around. She watched with growing concern for her fellow clone sibling as her other self tried to take control of the situation. “Jane, do you think your revive will work on him?”

“I honestly don’t know, I’ve never revived someone 'Doomed' before, whatever that means,” Jane answered delicately, “but I can try.”

“Don’t bother, it would only extend the inevitable, or worse, increase the pain” Sollux said in a distracted tone. 

Sollux was peering intensely at Dave with his pupil-less, newly revived red and blue eyes. They had grown back upon exiting, much to his annoyance, as the game didn’t seem to extend his half-dead/half-alive qualities past its borders and just filled in his default. Being alive with both Aradia and most of his old friends had managed to keep him in a good mood, but studying Dave was now taking almost all his attention. He could almost see the Doom that covered him like a thick blanket, but more felt it. Though the voices of the imminently deceased no longer bombarded his every conscious second against his will, he could still turn his sixth sense back on when he felt like it. He did so just to be sure, and Dave’s voice filled the back of his mind. Although, it was more muffled and unclear than the voices usually were, and he wasn’t sure why. 

“This guy is radiating Doom like a broken heater, in a way I’ve never seen before” Sollux explained after a moment. “Although it’s a bit fuzzy, I can still hear his voice, so one way or another he’s gonna die.”

“But Jane's a Life player, can’t she, y’know, cancel it out?” Roxy asked. She only knew about Davesprite from Johns brief explanation of his friends and was trying not to panic at the idea of another person dropping dead, especially after what happened in her original timeline. 

“Yeah! Jane revived lots of people during the final battles!” Jade argued. She had only known her Davesprite for a few weeks before he and John died, and she was in no way about to let that happen again without a fight. “Why wouldn’t it work now?!” 

“I’m telling you it’s not the same,” Sollux continued, “Doom isn’t a disease or a fatal wound. It’s a primary force of existence, like Time and Space. Stuffing him with Life won’t just get rid of it, like how freezing Time doesn’t actually turn off Gravity. It could potentially put a pause on it, normally, but with this much Doom coating his existence there’s no telling how he would react. The Doom might just take him faster to avoid another hold up” he finished. 

“So, what, we should just do nothing?!” John suddenly yelled in a panic, surprising Dave. He didn't think he would have cared after their last year together. 

“I didn’t fucking say that!”

The group spiraled into more arguments and hypotheticals, and Dave observed in silence. It’s been years since he’s seen this many people talking to each other, in person, at once. The ghost army didn’t have a lot of time to socialize with Davepeta since Lord English was upon them, but this whole group was talking about him. And not in a bad way, just with concern for his safety. It felt nice, but the Doom countdown in his head made it pretty hard to enjoy it. Still, he wanted to die even less now. Things were pretty shit. 

“Everyone shut up, I have an idea, but we need to act fast,” said Terezi in a stern tone. Terezi had always been mildly guilt ridden for what she did to Davesprite’s timeline, and wasn’t keen to watching another Dave die due in part to her meddling, no matter what the damn alpha timeline demanded. “Dirk, you can rip souls out of bodies, correct? Like you tried to do to the Jacks?” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Dirk responded. He was unaware there was a second Dave around and had been at a loss on what to do. “but I’m not sure how me killing him would help.”

“Shhhh! Nepeta, you’re also a Heart player, can you hold onto a soul after it’s out of a body?” Terezi asked. 

“Um, maybe? As a sprite I got a deepurr understanding of my aspect, but I haven’t really tried using my powers like that.”

“Well now’s the time, since I think that would keep him from dying permanently” Terezi explained. “The dream bubbles are being wiped out, so we have to make sure his soul stays here until we can make him a soul bot or something.” 

Dave was somewhat uneasy with the idea of being a bodyless soul, and even less psyched with being stuffed in a tin can for the rest of his life. At least the bird body could eat and stuff. He was about to speak up when Rose beat him to it. 

“No wait. That plan will lead to success, but there’s more.” Rose closed her eyes and allowed Light to fill her mind, the steps toward the most fortunate outcome unfolding before her as she stood upon her fellow Seer’s insight. “This Dave is currently labeled Doomed by Paradox Space. But if we can intertwine his soul with his Alpha self’s soul, the label should go away.”

“Holy shit, that could work” Sollux chimed in. 

“How do we do that?” Nepeta asked. 

“I’m not sure, it’s hard to say…” Alpha Rose started.

“Wait, let me help,” said the second Rose as she stepped forward. They eyed each other wearily, the alpha remembering the others distasteful behavior while the second not knowing exactly where she stands in this group dynamic. “I’m also god tier, so a fray-motif between the two of us should reveal a direct answer.”

Rose would have liked to argue the notion of needing anything from her doppelganger under normal circumstances, but didn’t argue for the sake of saving a Dave. She sighed and nodded reluctantly. They focused their powers together, and a concrete plan came together. 

“Ok! Here’s the plan,” the former cat Rose beat her alpha to the punch, much to the others chagrin. “We need rip both of the Daves’ souls out at the same time, and then Nepeta can force them together and stuff them back in the Alpha Dave’s body. Jane should be able to revive him from there. This will save his soul while removing the Doom, but both Daves will essentially become the same person… again.” She finished anticlimactically. 

There was a brief silence, as everyone waited for someone else to address the plan. Dave was stunned at the notion. For years, he had accepted that he would always be the failed clone. He would never be the alpha again. As Davepeta, he had learned to be fine with that. As long as he served his purpose to help defeat Lord English and see his friends safe, he was content. But to be an alpha again… he had never conceived of it. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to be anymore. Not to mention… the Alpha Dave would have to alter himself. Get all the shifty baggage and bad memories from being an asshole bird for three years. Why would he want that? To his surprise, the Alpha in question answered before he could be asked. 

“I’m okay with that, if you are,” the alpha Dave had addressed him directly. He was one of the few who had been dead silent through the whole debacle. After all the dead Daves he chucked into lava during the game, and the feathers he saw near his Bro’s dead body, he didn’t think his Doomed sprite would make it the whole three years. Let alone be turned into a sprite^2, with the cute cat troll of all people. It was a lot to take in. As everyone fell into discussion over how to save him and argued and got more worried about him, the alpha Dave felt like an intruder. He’s seen enough dead Daves to know what would happen, and it felt wrong to be there when his friends would inevitably mourn a different version of himself. Hell, he didn’t want to have to mourn over another version of himself. He had done enough of that during and after the game. Shit kept him up at night. Hearing that they could save him, mixing some memories seemed like a small price to pay. “No one can force you, but I think it’s worth it, all things considered.”

“Are you sure?” Doomed Dave had to ask his counterpart. “Shit could get fucked, irreversibly, up in the old head space.”

“When hasn’t it been? Besides, dead Daves are the enemy. We both know that.”

Dave considered it for another moment. His Doom ticked down, unwavering. 

“Fuck it,” Dave tried for a small smile. “Let’s do it man. Let’s make it happen.”


End file.
